ISLAMABAD, May 29: Chairman of Council of Islamic Ideology Dr Khalid Masud said on Sunday that Hudood laws were a set of man-made decrees and not a scripture, hinting at their review by the council and proposing suitable amendments to them. Talking to newsmen at the end of a three-day workshop on “Islamic criminal laws — in globalisation”, he said: “There were many conflicting provisions in the Hudood Ordinance which were not in consonance with the teachings of the Holy Quran.”

He said there was no harm in amending these laws for improvement’s sake.

He said the workshop had unanimously adopted the CII’s proposal for the establishment of an international consultative network to help Pakistan and other Islamic countries to coordinate academic discussions on Islamic laws going on in different parts of the world.

He said the Hudood Ordinance in its present shape was made according to the Fiqha and there was no bar on its review, something even the Federal Shariat Court had recommended.

Responding to a question, he said there were many issues which needed to be addressed, particularly the difference between rape and adultery, the definition of crime and categorization of martyrdom, etc.

He said several sensitive issues were discussed at the workshop by the participants, including the Hudood laws enforced in Pakistan.

The CII, he said, will co-opt eminent religious scholars before reaching a consensus opinion on these laws. He said the Hudood laws were enacted 27 years ago, generating a debate ever since.

The council, he said, would endeavour to save Islamic laws from being altered to serve political interests and would try to prepare its recommendations after academic and critical study.

During the discussion, three opinions emerged: one of people who want the laws’ repeal, second of conservative Ulema who hold rigid views on the laws, and third of people who contend that the laws, being man-made, should be amended in the light of Quranic jurisprudence.

He said the workshop also discussed the laws of Qisas and Diyat and emphasized the need for consultation among different segments of society on them, associating in the discussion those who had objections/reservations on them.

Mr Masood said the moot stressed the need of activating Ijtehad and the Islamic legal methodology to meet the demands of new era.

It was noted that in the era of globalization some misunderstandings about Islamic laws were understandable. There was a need for listening to the point of view of non-Muslim scholars while formulating and amending these laws, he said.

The workshop unanimously decided to set up an “international consultative network” for keeping various countries abreast of academic and practical research on various aspects of Islamic jurisprudence.

The CII chairman said the participants of the workshop acknowledged that any change and gradation of Islamic criminal laws was a complex and multifaceted issue on which a number of opinions among ulema existed.